What You See Is What You Get

FAQs

Why did you write WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET?

I used to tell my children stories when they were little and ghost stories were the most fun by far. I remember one New Year staying with friends in a spooky old house in Wales. Four girls were in the same bedroom together and of course they couldn’t sleep, so I went in and told them a story. They were all cuddled in the same bed. Moonlight was slanting across the wall but otherwise the room was dark. I remember the ice in my glass quivering as I began to frighten even myself, because that is the night I first met the hooded monk. I made him up. Of course I did. At least I think I did. Now I think of it, I can remember perfectly clearly his shadow moving across that pale, moonlit wall. Or can I?

That’s the problem with ‘ghosts’. Something happens that is really unusual. Then, in no time the rational voice inside you pipes up and persuades us that it didn’t happen at all. So what is the truth? I wrote the book to find out.

Do you believe in ghosts now?

I still don’t know!

Have you ever seen a ghost?

When my youngest child was about a month old, I had an experience that terrified the daylights out of me. My baby was waking in the night, as they do, and I used to crawl out of bed in our Victorian house to feed him. I was probably more woozy from lack of sleep than I’d ever been in my life, I have to admit. Anyway, one night I thought I could see a big armchair at the foot of our bed. Which was odd because it was in a place where we didn’t have a chair. Next night I was sure someone was sitting in it. A woman. Over the next few nights her image became clearer: she was a big, solid woman in middle age wearing a Victorian-style bonnet that hid her features. Each night I could see more detail and made out her dark dress with a bodice of lace and buttons. She kept her arms folded in front of her and seemed to glower at me as I crept out of bed to the baby. More and more, I became aware of her anger. Now, I think I’m a reasonably rational person and I was trying not to make too much of this, but one night I suddenly knew that she wanted my baby. I woke my husband. On went all the lights. I rushed to the baby, had she taken him or killed him as I was sure she was threatening? No. He was sound asleep. In fact, he began to sleep through the night after that and my ‘experiences’ of the woman in the chair stopped. By the time I came to write WYSIWYG I was pretty sure it was all a figment of my imagination but those feelings of anxiety and terror were still very clear and I used them.

You say you were sleep-deprived. So it was all a dream?

‘Sightings’ often happen when we’re not fully awake. Does that mean that we’re dreaming? Or is it when ghosts are best able to sneak past our logical brains? I might have been dreaming at first but the sense of threat was absolutely real, even when I was wide awake.

Did you feel a ghostly chill?

It was February so we were all freezing anyway! But that chilly feeling we get when we think there’s something spooky about … is that a ghost? Or are we confusing our fear response (literally hair raising) with feeling cold? I don’t know.

Scientists says that a ‘presence’ can be just infrasound. Human beings can’t hear frequencies lower than 20 hertz but they make us feel peculiar. Do you think it was that?

What causes those low frequencies? A ghost?

What frightens you?

Vampires, the evil eye, ghosts, all that, yes. I’m claustrophobic too, so a sense that I’m hemmed in and can’t get out makes me feel really panicky. I’ve learned to breathe deeply and push myself to think relaxing and lovely thoughts until the situation passes. People frighten me too sometimes. People who are bullies. They’re the worst.

Have you ever been bullied?

Plenty. And not just as a child. It’s never easy to deal with on your own. Get help from your friends, parents, head teacher and/or childline (0800 1111). Bullies are creeps. They need help too.

When did you start writing WYSIWYG?

In 1996/7. I had been making up loads of ghost stories for my children and decided to weave them into one big one. I wanted my story to do more than make a reader feel that something weird was happening, I wanted to explore why it might happen and what it could mean.

How long did it take to write?

The first draft took about three months but it was far too long and needed lots of rewriting. Then it took time to find a publisher. (It often does).

Where did the characters come from?

If I say that I live with my husband and our three children in south east London, does that give you a clue?

Why did you choose the title What You See Is What You Get?

One of my sons (who’s now studying computer science at university) suggested it. WYSIWYG is a computer mnemonic: what you see on your computer screen is supposed to be what appears on the page. How often does that happen? You print out something fantastic from the internet and one side of the screen page isn’t there! You print out an email and all you get is the advert at the top! Infuriating. I couldn’t help imagining a ghost who came and went like that.